The invention relates to water skis and more particularly to a water ski that planes up to the surface of the water more rapidly than traditional skis currently available in the market place.
Different water ski structures have been designed to improve the characteristics of the ride of the water skier. Some skis have been designed with a groove or channel extending longitudinally in their bottom surface. The Fortin U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,575 discloses a water ski made of composite material that may have either one or two concave running surfaces along the length of the water ski on its bottom surface. The Brownson U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,096 discloses a water ski also having a double channel formed in the bottom surface of the water ski with the channels being separated by a longitudinal convex ridge.
The Sharpe U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,807 discloses a one-piece molded plastic water ski having an elongated body of V-shaped transverse cross-section through the fore and mid sections of the ski, with the angle between the side walls increasing progressively toward the aft section to provide a substantially flat bottom of the aft end.
The Pitcairn U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,435 discloses a water ski having a pair of parallel concave longitudinal channels formed in the bottom surface of the water ski.
The Silverstein U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,980 discloses a water ski having a channel extending down the center of the bottom surface of the ski and having ridges formed on either side that have stepped surfaces.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel water ski that will plane up the surface of the water more rapidly than traditional water skis sold today.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel water ski having structure on its bottom surface that will provide more acceleration for the water skier while making a turn than traditional skis due to increased pressure coming out of the side channels to function similar to a venturi.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel water ski that provides more stability and better balance for the water skier.
The novel water ski has a fore-zone, a mid-zone and an aft-zone. The front tip end of the ski encompasses the fore-zone. A major concave groove having a concave transverse cross section extends substantially the length of the mid-zone and the aft zone. The major groove has a longitudinally extending X-axis. There are a plurality of left side minor grooves and right side minor grooves that extend outwardly toward the respective left side edge and right side edge of the water ski from the major groove. The minor grooves make an angle of approximately 4 degrees to 20 degrees with the longitudinally extending X-axis. The minor grooves also have a concave transverse cross section.
The advantages of the major groove and the minor grooves are quickly recognized by a water skier when he is being pulled by a watercraft. When pressure is applied to the bottom of the ski, the water is forced down the major groove toward the end of the ski causing the ski to plane up to the surface of the water more rapidly. Another advantage is that more acceleration is provided as the water is forced down the major and minor grooves toward the tail end of the ski. The major groove can receive or accept a certain volume of water passing therethrough. The minor grooves can receive or accept a smaller volume of water due to their smaller cross section and this produces increased pressure since more water is being forced into a smaller volume as the water is forced into the minor grooves thereby creating increased pressure and acceleration. Forcing water evenly into the minor grooves on both sides of the major groove creates stability thereby causing less strain/effort to maintain the ski on a plane. The minor grooves produce a differential higher pressure proportional to the flow rate of the water passing through the major groove. The major and minor channels also provide more stability and balance for a skier due to the equal water pressure and flow out of the left and right minor grooves of the ski. The minor grooves force the water out causing more turning acceleration. An added benefit is that the speed of the boat accelerates without increasing the throttle of the engine because there is less drag on the skis and therefore less drag on the boat. The acceleration is therefore produced by using water pressure.